This invention relates to data processing forms useful with apparatus, such as facsimile machines, using a line-by-line type scanner to provide an output signal based on the amount of light reflected from the sheet being scanned.
Although there has been the wide-spread commercial acceptance of facsimile machines, it is recognized that use of the machines can be enhanced if the operation of facsimile machines can be simplified so that users can operate the machines with a minimum amount of instruction plus minimal operator intervention and supervision. It is noted that some effort has been made in this area since it has been recognized that facsimile machines which provide for optical line-by-line scanning of a document to provide for the transmission of signals based on the graphic information presented on the document can be adapted to scan information placed on a data processing form which can be used to provide automatic modification of the operation of the facsimile machine. For example, it is possible, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,993 to Heckman et al, to use a document processing form to provide information to a facsimile machine to provide for the automatic dialing from another facsimile machine in accordance with the number as entered on the document processing form.
The use of document processing forms scanned by the facsimile machine to supply information to the facsimile machine requires electronic processing of the signals obtained by the scanning process. Such processing involves the use of microprocessors and associated memory. It is desirable, therefore, that the format used for a document processing form be one that presents the necessary information in a manner such that the information can be located and processed as quickly as possible while providing for redundant error checking for both user errors and mechanical skew of the form as it moves through the scanning apparatus in order to increase the reliability of the scanning process and permit the use of simplified software programs which will serve to minimize the amount of memory required